Posts tagged ‘Google’

From the 1st of March 2012 Google is introducing a new one-size-fits-all privacy policy. Or as they’re headlining it ‘One policy, one Google experience‘. By continuing to use Google products from that date you will be accepting this policy. There will be no ‘please read then tick if you accept’ method here, which is more commonly used by the likes of Apple and PayPal when they update their terms of service or privacy policies.

On starting to read the page explaining the reasoning behind the move from sixty policies to one, it becomes very clear that the language being used is that of promotion, aiming to convince readers that this is a good idea. In and of itself this is interesting, and perhaps show some insecurities that Google may have in what they are doing.Continue reading…

In it, Pariser explores how the personalisation of the web – be it on Facebook, Google or elsewhere – is creating ‘filter bubbles’. Whilst the web promised us freedom from media gatekeepers, he believes that in reality there has been a passing of a torch, “From human gate keepers to algorithmic ones”.

“Most of us assume that when we google a term, we all see the same results – the ones that the company’s famous Page Rank algorithm suggests are the most authoritative based on other pages’ links. But since December 2009, this is no longer true. Now you get the result that Google’s algorithm suggests is best for you in particular – and someone else may see something entirely different. In other words, there is no standard Google any more.”

Pariser outlines why this may be a problem for society and democracy, as the web feeds us what it thinks we should know, against what we are potentially really looking for, or perhaps just need to know.

“[…] you don’t choose to enter the bubble. When you turn on Fox News or read The New Statesman, you’re making a decision about what kind of filter to use to make sense of the world. It’s an active process, and like putting on a pair of tinted glasses, you can guess how the editors’ leaning shapes your perception. You don’t make the same kind of choice with personalised filters. They come to you – and because they drive up profits for the websites that use them, they’ll become harder and harder to avoid.”

These ideas take notions of like-mindedness, such as research by Cass Sunstein, a step further, and more out of our control. Whilst many of us might actively try to follow, search for and discover ideas outside of our comfort zone, unwittingly these attempts may be in vain.